Little Things
by janya.wrote.nightrose
Summary: It's a lot easier to fix a 1956 Chevy than the girl I'm in love with." Jacob Black comes back a little earlier. He and Bella figure out some hard things and face the truth of their future... apart.


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"Jake! _Jake!_"

She runs into his arms like a child (she never was, except when he's there) and he folds her into an embrace, lifting her up, up.

"Hey, Bells."

"You came back!"  
He laughs. It's a mockery, a dull shadow of his old, real happiness, because she's finally killed all the hope that used to make the sun shine, but she doesn't even care because it's close enough. "Yeah. I did."

"Why now? Oh, Jake, I was _so worried about you._"

Not as worried as he was.

"Well…" he looks down. "I… Seth told me about your truck."

She starts to laugh too, and it heals him just a little. _His _Bella never laughed, though. Always that weary smile… he fought for this for _years _and never got it. The damn leech doesn't even have to try to make her happy.

That strikes him as unfair.

"That's why you came back? For my _truck?_"

"Well…" he hesitates, considering, and then explains. "The bloodsucker broke it, didn't he?"

She shrugs. "Probably. I'm pretty pissed at him. He bought me this fancy new car and I _hate _it."

"Yeah. I saw it, parked in front of your house." He doesn't mention that he stopped there to try and catch the smell. Try and find out whether or not the girl he loves is dead yet.

He laughed when he saw the car, the bitter laugh. It's so ridiculous. More proof that leech doesn't know her at all. The truck, red and bulbous, old and weird and slow but smelling of leather and with a hundred stories to tell- somehow, it's _Bella. _

Mercedes Guardian? Not so much.

"Hasn't changed you yet."

He says it calmly, but sorrow's going, replaced by a wealth of anger. It burns and seethes and coils beneath the surface.

"Um…" she isn't sure what that has to do with anything, but smiles, because _Jacob is home_. "Yeah. He hasn't."

"He hasn't even changed you yet." His hand comes down hard against the wall- they're outside her school, one last paper to pick up, and he came to meet her because now that he's back why wait another second. "Hasn't even changed you yet and he's already taking away all the things that make you Bella."

"Jacob…"

He breathes in deeply through his nose, calms himself. "I'm sorry. I did promise… I'm supposed to stop fighting now. Make this easy for you."

She doesn't want it to be easy. She wants to suffer. "No. Jake, I want… if you fight… I know you haven't lost hope. I need you to be strong, to fight, to hope. It's what makes you Jacob."

He wants to demand how she could be so damn selfish. Asking for more from him? What else is he supposed to give? Instead, he smiles. To make her happy. "I know you better than that bloodsucker ever will, Bells. You know that, honey. But you've made your choice, and I'm not here to try and revoke that. I'm here to fix your truck."

With the shadow of his old smile, he hoists his car keys. "Come on, I'll drop you off by your place and then meet you there. I gotta get my tools and stuff."

He swings her into the front seat of the Rabbit, and she shivers a little the moment they aren't touching anymore.

"So where were you?"

"Somewhere in Canada." He shrugs. "Not really sure where."

"And why'd you decide to come back?"

"Like I said, the truck."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I figured… you're not going to be Bells much longer, are you?"

"No. I'm not."

He smiles through the blow. "So I figured… it's the little things, you know, that make you _you. _And pretty soon they're all going to be gone. You won't have brown eyes like the earth, and you won't have seven thousand little scars all the time, and your forehead won't wrinkle like that when you're thinking, and you'll drive a fancy sports car instead of my dad's beat-up Chevy, and _I'm going to miss you so damn much. _So I figured I shouldn't waste the little bit of time I have left, to spend time with the real Bella. After all, if you knew the person you love was going to die in a couple of weeks, would you waste your time wolfing it up in Canada?"

She laughs a little. "Well, that's not really an option."

"Also, I figured… I can't fix you. I tried pretty damn hard but it didn't work. You wouldn't change, you wouldn't let me heal up all the scars inside you. You have to die and start over, maybe. Maybe that's how you see it, anyway. I still think I could make it better. But… you've given up, you're not gonna give me a chance. And that's your choice. But I know I can fix… it's a lot easier to fix a 1956 Chevy than the girl I'm in love with, I guess. So I'll do what I can."

She doesn't know what to say to that. So she says, "Thanks. For trying, I guess."

"I just couldn't save you from yourself. But if I can save just one of those little things… it's worth trying."

Worth all the pain that lies ahead. But he doesn't think about that, just takes one hand off the wheel and gently touches her cheek. For her, it's worth it. If he can keep a piece of her alive, the littlest piece, it's worth it.

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